Amin Brakk, New Route. Juan Miranda and I arrived in Islamabad on June 3 with the intention of climbing a new route on the 1300-meter west face of Amin Brakk (5850m). We established Base Camp on the Changma Glacier at 4300 meters. Our idea was to climb the route as a two-person team.

The climb kept us in the Changma Valley for 51 days, 31 of which were spent on the wall itself. We spent ten days carrying gear and getting used to the altitude, then lived in portaledges between July 5 and August 4. On the wall, we had 13 days of bad weather (during which we could not leave the portaledge), four sunny days and mixed weather for the remaining days.

Namkor (6b+ A5, 1550m) is 31 pitches long, 17 of which were free climbed. The rest were aided. Even though the route reaches the summit ridge, we did not ascend to the summit, since a storm with heavy lightning forced us to descend back to Camp III. After riding out the storm in the portaledges for two days, we ascended back to belay 27 to recover a haulbag with gear and to clean up the fixed ropes that were still on the wall. The following day, August 4, we returned to Base Camp with our seven haulbags and their 300 kilos of weight.

Namkor has three parts: the first follows angled terrain over loose slabs and flakes up to belay 11 (Camp I). It can be free climbed at 6b+. The second part involves serious aid climbing: two A5 pitches and one of A4 lead over a smooth, slightly overhanging wall to Camp II. Finally, the third part is a magnificent 600-meter dihedral that reaches the summit ridge. We graded this section 6b A2+.